While on twitter I saw a number of tweets and retweets about authors pulling their submission from an anthology, WICKED PRETTY THINGS. I decided to check it out and I have gathered some links and information for you.

Basically Jessica Verday, author of THE HOLLOW trilogy, had written a male/male love story and was asked by the editor to change it to a male/female relationship because it would not be acceptable to the publishers. She refused and pulled her submission and support of the anthology. In support, so far, 3 other authors are pulling their submissions from the anthology as well. Below I have posted 2 links from Jessica Verday's blog which include quotes from the editor and the publishers. I have also posted links to the blog entries of the other authors who have posted why they have chosen to pull their stories.

Last week at #pblitchat we talked about point of view (POV) in picture books. I am going to touch on a few points during the chat and add a few of my own. If you want to read a full version of the chat transcript you can see it at the Picture Books Only Blog – Transcript 10/11 March.

Point of view, or POV for short, in books is the perspective in which the story is told. Through whose eyes we see the story. POV can be a difficult concept to wrap your head around.

Basically there are three points of view: First, Second and Third

There are finer details such as third person limited (you are ONLY able to write what one person sees/feels/hears/thinks) and third person omniscient (you can hover above everybody & see everything) but I’m not going to get into that at this time.

I believe third POV is probably the most used in picture books followed by first POV. Second can and has been used however there doesn’t seem to be as many picture books in that POV.

First Person POV
First person point of view is written with the narrator as part of the story. The words “I” and “we” are used. Though this POV brings us close to the narrator and show s/he thinks and feels, it does limit the story to the one person’s perspective. In picture books this shouldn’t pose too much of a problem since telling a story from more than one perspective can confuse a child. The other issue with first person is some younger children may get confused when being read to. When read “I went to the store” a child may think mommy or daddy really did go to the store. As KarenCollum put it in #pblitchat “There’s an element of maturity involved in kids reading a PB in 1st and understanding that ‘me’ and ‘I’ is not them.”

Second Person POV
Second person point of view is written with you being part of the story. The words “you” and “your” are used. This POV pulls the reader right into the story. You often find this POV in choose your own adventure books or self help books. This type of POV is less popular in picture books – though it has been done and done well.

Third Person POV
Probably the most popular POV to write, third person POV tells the story from a person outside the story. The words “he,” “she,” “they” and “it” are used. This POV allows for more freedom in how that story is told.

Have you ever tried to write one of your works in a different POV. What did you find? Does the story change? Did you find holes in your story?
So, there you have it. Feel free to leave your comments about other books and POVs or anything else you would like.

If you are looking for a place to chat about picture books then you need to join #pblitchat. Aussie writers Kat Apel and Karen Collum run a blog called Picture Books Only which is the home to #pblitchat. The chat is held once a week all about picture books is open to writers, librarian's and all lovers of children's picture books. Even though they state "Sorry – no middle-grade or YA novels allowed" they do tend to enter the conversation every once and a while however the main focus is pictures books.

I have found these sessions very informative and entertaining with a very friendly group. We're all learning so no question is ever to stupid to ask and I feel comfortable asking all my "stupid" questions here. Every week there is a different picture book topic and sometimes a special guest. Kat and Karen listen closely to participants of #pblitchat and some of the topics are based on the feedback they get. Some topics in the past have been so popular more than one session has been devoted it.

Topics include:POV, technology, submission tracking, goals, myths in picture book publishing, plagiarism and copyright, From idea to polished manuscript: How do you get there? and the list goes on.

Special guests such as:Aaron Reynolds and Neil Numberman (creators of the ‘Joey Fly’ graphic novels) and other published authors and illustrators, publishing consultant Alex Adsett, agents, poetry writers...

Time and PlaceThe chat is the same day every week but you need to pay close attention to place and time of the chats. To help accommodate the different time zones the time and place of the chat alternates each week.

Every 1st, 3rd and 5th (if there is one) Thursday of the month the chat is held at 7:00 am Eastern Time on Twitter using the #pblitchat tag.

Every 2nd and 4thThursday the chat is held at 6:30 pm Eastern Time in a Chatzy chat room.

For a full listing of #pblitchat times in each timezone see the About Picture Books Only page. In order to enter the Chatzy room a password is required but don't let that scare you off. Simply email pblitchat[at]skymesh[dot]com[dot]au or pblitchat[at]bigpond[dot]com and request the password. (This was necessary due to some off-topic gate-crashers.)

Miss a chat or what to know more information about a topic previously covered? Kat and Karen happily post the chat transcript on their blog. You can find the transcripts on the Picture Books Only home page. I'm also hoping to summarize the transcript here on my blog.